


Saving Longbottom's Parents

by Bacner



Series: Adventures of Vampire Slayers in London [4]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer - fandom, Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: AU - McGuffin, AU - crossover, F/M, Faith is a Lestrange, Gen, Imperio, Neville's parents, no perfect solutions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-15
Updated: 2016-07-15
Packaged: 2018-07-24 06:04:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 2,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7496730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bacner/pseuds/Bacner
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is a way to fix Neville's parents and Draco knows it. What will be the result?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

Once upon a noon, Draco Malfoy and Neville Longbottom were sitting in the cafeteria of the Ministry of Magic, drinking coffee and reading newspapers. They could have also smoked pipes or cigars, but smoking was currently unfashionable in the wizard world, so they did not.

Despite sitting on the opposite ends of a stall, neither wizard paid much attention to the other: during their seventh year the two of them were half-upping each other and half-ignoring, and the year after that they ignored each other fully. Since many a British wizard believed that “if it isn’t broken, then it doesn’t need to be fixed” they continued in this vein even after graduating Hog-warts at a long last, and that’s what they were doing now, when Ginny “soon-to-be-Potter” Weasley made her appearance.

“Malfoy,” she said in her best scornful voice (after looking around to check – just in case – that Faith LeHane or some other friend of Malfoy wasn’t around).

“Longbottom,” Malfoy drawled out lazily, pointing in the direction of the other wizard.

“Oh,” Ginny flushed, and carefully thrust a large, dark grey, sealed envelope to Neville. “Hi, Neville. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but-“

“Let me guess,” Neville said bitterly, taking the envelope from Ginny but making no attempt to open it. “Their condition is stable, it hasn’t deteriorated, it hasn’t improved, and it hasn’t done anything. They’re very hopeful, of course, and encourage me to be hopeful, and they encourage Gran to be hopeful-“ He ripped the envelope open and looked at its contents. “Well, what do you know? I’m right on all counts!”

“Sorry Neville,” Ginny said in a small voice, even as she glared disapprovingly at Draco, who got up to leave the booth.

“What she said,” Draco replied, looking vaguely uncomfortable in that detached Malfoy way.

“Yeah, you should be,” Ginny began to wind up despite her intentions to the contrary, “since it was your aunt-“

“My aunt Bellatrix was killed by your mother,” Draco said flatly, “but... you’re barking up the wrong LeStrange for the moment. My aunt wasn’t that much smarter than my mother; she was just braver and bolder than mom is. My uncle Rudolphus, on the other hand... he could drive people mad just for fun in so many different ways, with our without the wand, he could, and – since he is still alive and at large – he still can.”

“And that’s all very fine, Malfoy, but what can you do?” Ginny snapped. Mentioning Bellatrix was a very big tactical mistake, in no small part because Molly Weasley herself was less than happy for having done the deed in question, and would rather keep it under wraps instead, for a number of reasons...

“Pardon?” Draco looked genuinely intrigued for a change. “What are you implying?”

“Do you know of any way to do something about them?” Neville said slowly. He didn’t like where this was going either. 

“Dark magic made them thus, so dark magic should fix them,” Draco replied flatly. “It’s one of those magical sub-laws that are related to the law of simulacra.”

“Neville’s parents aren’t simulacra-“ Ginny began, but Neville interrupted her:

“No, but for all thoughts and purposes they might as well be. Malfoy, let’s settle this here and now. Can you, or can you not, do something about my parents’ condition?”

Draco didn’t flinch. “I can,” he solemnly replied. “That said, I do not guarantee success. Either I can make them better or worse. Is that clear enough for you?”

“Perfectly,” Neville nodded solemnly and turned to Ginny. “Ginny, I need your help with an Unbreakable Vow.”

Ginny nervously gulped.

_TBC..._


	2. Chapter 2

The room where Frank and Alice Longbottom were kept was located in St. Mungo’s wing for the insane, but among the most docile ones, for the obvious reasons.

“This is, this is,” Ginny was muttering and looking very unlike her usual self: pale and nervous. “This is just whack, man!” she finally found what she was looking for, and fell silent, surprised.

“You don’t have to be here,” Neville told her gently. “Maybe you shouldn’t be here, but rather with Harry or Hermione, telling them about this.”

“I already sent Hermione a patronus – hope that she isn’t with Ron, or we’re screwed,” Ginny muttered back. “Oh, well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Malfoy, do to hoodoo that you do so well.”

“If only,” Draco muttered flatly back, and pointed a pair of spare wands at Neville’s parents. “ _Imperio_!”

The spell struck the pair right in the faces, and there were flickers of something in their expressionless eyes.

“From now on,” Draco said firmly, “the two of you will behave as you have behaved before going insane, and you will behave so from now on until the end of your lives. Never again will you be affected by this spell nor will you be comatose as you have been now. Let these wands be broken!” he snapped the wands in two.

The next moment two things happened: first was that there was a very insistent pounding on the door by either the aurors or the mediwizards of St. Mungo, and second was that Frank and Alice Longbottom blinked, looked at each other and the others with completely sane and adequate looks on their faces and said:

“Finally!”

_TBC..._


	3. Chapter 3

The halls and corridors of St. Mungo’s were full of people, most of who were of the auror or the mediwizard (or –witch) variety. Their attention was focused on Ginny, Draco, and the Longbottom family, for the obvious reasons.

“Young man, what have you done?” one of the mediwitches (vaguely similar to Hogwarts’ own Madame Pomfrey) asked Draco.

“I implemented my family’s knowledge to fix Longbottom’s family situation,” Draco replied politely, unwilling to aggravate so many people, whose wands were aimed at various parts of his anatomy, “with his knowledge, written permission, and all. Weasley?”

“Here,” Ginny spoke, somewhat reluctantly, as she pulled out a filled-out form. The Ministry of Magic possessed all sort of paperwork, including one related to St Mungo business: acquiring and filling one out took roughly about 30 minutes. “Here it is.”

“Looks to be in proper order,” grunted one of the aurors as he took a good look at it, before turning his attention to Neville. “Young man, I seriously hope that you know what you’re doing?”

“Of course he did,” Frank Longbottom answered instead, and there were distinct echoes of his son and mother in his voice. “I seriously hope that you can be as certain when your own family matters are at stake.”

There was a pause, as the auror in question, grunted, and was clearly leaning towards a fight. That, however, didn’t happen, as a new character appeared on the scene.

“What’s going on here?” Augusta Longbottom imperiously asked, and everybody parted before her, so that she could see her family in question.

“Hey, mom,” Frank Longbottom cheerfully waved at her. 

Augusta Longbottom opened her mouth, but no sound emerged from it (though some would later claim that she managed gasp-out “What have you done?”), her eyes budged out and she grabbed her chest – before collapsing, apparently from a heart attack.

_TBC_


	4. Chapter 4

“Well, hello, Mr. Giles!” Rita Skeeter said cheerfully. 

Rupert Giles barely suppressed a twitch. Rita Skeeter may’ve been a pureblood British witch, but first and foremost she was a journalist, and as such she was just as comfortable in muggle clothing, as she was in the wizarding robes. She was also a frisky blonde, but that was a direction Rupert Giles had no intention of going in – yet. 

“Miss Skeeter,” he said as smoothly as he could, with just an echo of Ripper evident in his voice. “Why are you here? Don’t you have any other news leaks to follow?”

“Sure do,” Rita seemed to be unaffected whatsoever by Giles’ curtness. “And that’s exactly why I am here today: I want to share.”

“Of course you do,” Giles said automatically, before catching himself. “What exactly?”

“We-ell,” Rita said with a twinkle in her eye that was somewhat equivalent to Giles’ own Ripper, “a news leak.”

“And why should we be interested in it? It’s not Vampire Slayer business, is it?”

“No, it’s wizarding business, Draco and Neville business, to be more precise,” Rita smiled with a slightly smirking smile, even as Giles had to give in with a sigh: she had him – this time.

“Well? What have those two youngsters do this time?” Giles folded and asked.

_TBC_


	5. Chapter 5

“Draco! There you are! Where’s Neville?” Rupert Giles (followed by Faith LeHane) appeared seemingly out of nowhere and approached Draco (and also Ginny Weasley, who was hanging not far from him).

“He went home,” Draco mechanically said, before remembering something. “That is to say, it’s far more complicated than that-“

“Yes, we know, Britain’s very answer to Spiderman, Rita Skeeter had told us in a great detail,” Faith said with an eye-roll. “So now the only question remains as to how you pulled it off?”

Draco took a deep breath and whispered into Faith’s ear, so softly that only Giles could hear him: “The Imperio clause.”

“Ah,” Faith said, barely louder, “Black family archives?”

“Yes,” Draco nodded solemnly. “Will there be problems?”

“Hard to say,” Giles said thoughtfully, “Dark magic – and it includes the Unforgiveables - always exacts a price, always. Admittedly, I’m not sure what price will be exacted here, but-“

“Excuse me, young people,” a wizard in non-descript robes approached the mismatched quartet, “but can I speak with the young couple here?” he pointed to Faith and Draco. 

The latter pair exchanged looks with Giles. “Sure,” Faith replied, somewhat forcefully, before turning to Giles. “Giles? We’ll be right back.”

* * *

When the door in a nearest convenient medical room closed shut, Draco stared expectantly at Faith: what was going on here?

Faith, however, wasn’t about to reassure him. Instead, she was still facing the wizard, and now Draco could tell that something was very wrong here.

“Well, Draco, V’era,” the wizard said softly, “long time no see.”

“Right back at you,” Faith – V’era Nocturna LeStrange replied just as softly, “hello – father.”

_TBC_


	6. Chapter 6

“Uncle?” Draco gulped. “Mr. Rudolphus LeStrange?”

Father and daughter both looked at him like they would at a relative bereaved of wits. Indeed, just like his eldest daughter, Rudolphus LeStrange had a pale face and long dark hair (though shorter than that of Lucius Malfoy); plus a short beard that ringed the lower half of his face and a pair of remarkably fuzzy eyebrows that used to cause him a lot of jokes and embarrassment in Hogwarts. And then Rudolphus (followed by his brother and wife) graduated Hogwarts, joined forces with Lord Voldemort, and helped to usher a reign of terror that had lasted for two or three generations. 

“Yes, Draco, it is I,” Rudolphus LeStrange said with a sigh. “How are you doing, lately?”

“Better than Neville’s grandmother, I reckon,” Draco said guardedly. “When she saw her son and daughter-in-law return from the realm of madness, she went down, with a heart attack. I wonder why.”

“Because she knows what you and Neville have done,” Faith explained patiently. “Father, when he rendered the Longbottom couple comatose, had locked away their _hun_ -“

“Their what?”

“ _Hun_ , higher soul if you want a translation from Chinese. Their _yang_ , if you want to be completely blonde.”

“What _yang_ has to do with magic?” Draco insisted.

“ _Yang is_ magic!” Rudolphus snapped, causing Draco to stiffen. “With their _yang_ locked away, only their _yin_ – or _p’o_ – remained, and that, on its own, wasn’t enough to make them truly alive! Now that your spell was added to the mix, they are alive, but without their _hun_ to counter their _p’o_ , they’ll be their own evil twins! That’s why Augusta Longbottom had a heart attack – she realized them for what they are now, that her own grandson had a role in that metamorphose, and her old heart couldn’t handle it – she collapsed!”

“Bleep!” Draco exclaimed in a very un-pure-blood like fashion, “I really should talk to Neville, or else we’re all screwed!” he added, before he could think properly and remember that his uncle could probably kill him without even using a wand. “And, um, don’t look at me like that, uncle, you got no blood feud against the Longbottoms – only the Weasleys...”

Instead of replying, Rudolphus LeStrange just grinned – and vanished with a pop, leaving something resembling a boggart, only bigger, in his wake.

“The phasm!” Draco had a mental breakthrough. “Cousin, you and your jokes-“

“And you and your ideas,” Faith said flatly. “Speaking of Longbottoms? Don’t worry – I have an idea as to how to fix them.”

Draco gulped.

_TBC..._


	7. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No, that wasn't really Rudolphus in the last chapter; he used a proxy instead. Really.

Neville was dreaming. It was a strange dream, much different from his regular ones (which usually featured all sorts of magical and wonderful Hogwarts’ flora), when he was lying in his bed, and his long-lost parents (well, not exactly lost, but you get the idea) were approaching him, their faces distorted in a grotesque, diabolical way, and the visible parts of his bodies were covered in some strange design (not the DE tattoos, but still strange). 

Neville didn’t like this dream, he did his best to wake-up, but for some strange reason he couldn’t, and when his parents suddenly ended-up too close for comfort, there was a gust of cold wind, a clap of thunder, and someone appeared behind him. Neville wasn’t sure who that someone was, but since he or she were emitting a light as bright as that of a powerful Lumos spell, he was certain that the newcomer wasn’t a human either.

“You!” the newcomer spoke, still positioned behind Neville. “What business do you have here?”

“None,” his interlocutor replied, and Neville gulped, because he didn’t sound anything as his father sounded. “We were supposed to stay in the hospital, until the end of their lives, but now a spell has taken a hold of us, and it is driving us mad.”

“Then go back to whence you came from,” the newcomer said sternly.

“Make us!”

“Gladly!” And suddenly Neville’s parents were grabbed by a being that appeared to be mostly pure white energy. There was a burst of bright light, the smell of something burning, and...

...And Neville Longbottom woke up. It was morning, the sun was shining and the birds were singing outside.

“Son?” Alice Longbottom, followed by her husband, approached Neville cautiously.

“Yes?” Neville replied, equally cautious. He wasn’t sure about this for some reason – possibly because of a mostly forgotten dream he had last night. “What’s going on?”

Before either of his parents could reply, an owl bearing news with St. Mungo’s impression on the wax landed on their dining table. 

“Good news,” Frank muttered, as he reached the letter first. “Mother’s crisis is over – she’ll be back here this evening... with a nurse assigned to her by the hospital. That’s great.”

Instinctively, Neville exchanged a look with his mother: he didn’t think that that was too great for some reason, but rather that it was going to be rather ominous - and he was correct... but that is another story.

_End_


End file.
